Eva Art Online
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: Imagine playing an online game, one where you could feel, taste and smell, not just see and hear, but at a terrible price. Something has happened to hundreds of thousands of people across the world: They're trapped in a game that they can't log out of. With no way to get help from the outside, the only way out…is to win the game. But if you die in the game, you die in real life.
1. Discovery

Creation began on 06-22-16

Creation ended on 06-23-16

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Eva Art Online: Discovery

A/N: This is to shut up EvaShinobiKaiserKnight about the lack of Shinji/Asuka pairings. Also manga-based instead of anime.

NERV was in a bind that was undeniably intense to resolve. It had been a week since the Third Angel attack, and the casualties were, while few, severe. The city of Tokyo-3 had lost eight buildings, less than two-hundred dead or injured, and the First Child, Rei Ayanami, was in critical condition with no hope of recovering from her injuries.

This left Gendo Ikari, who was supposed to be in charge of the situation regarding the Angels, facing the brunt of both bad press and his superiors. His original course of action was to bring in the Third Child to substitute the First Child in piloting Unit-01, but was informed that his estranged son was unavailable and hospitalized. Because he didn't have the time to be bothered with the reasons for Shinji being unavailable, he requested the Second Child from Germany, but was informed by the NERV branch over there that Asuka Langley Soryu was also unavailable and hospitalized. When he finally had no other alternative, he had Rei face the Third Angel, despite her injuries. But now that he had time to question the lack of availability from the other two pilots, he called the NERV branch in Germany again and demanded an explanation for why the Second Child was unavailable.

"Are you sure about this?" He questioned over the phone.

He then called up Ritsuko to his office.

"Yes, sir?" She asked when she arrived.

"What do you know about these…MMORPGs?" Gendo asked her.

"MMORPGs? Those are multi-media-online-role-playing-games that people play on the Internet. They're a global fad that any computer-iterate individual can participate in."

"Can people become comatose from playing them?"

"No, that's impossible."

"I was just informed by the NERV branch in Germany that the Second Child has become comatose due to playing such a game on the Internet. Going further, it has been recently discovered that more than three-hundred-thousand people across the planet have become comatose because of a new game. I need you to ascertain the exact game this was and how that many people were affected almost at the same time."

"Yes, sir. What about the Third Child?"

"That's something I've sent Captain Katsuragi to investigate."

-x-

As Misato Katsuragi entered the Nagasaki-2 Memorial Hospital where the Third Child was admitted to, she noticed a lot of adults and very few children in the halls. Normally, the hospital was often where you found children more than adults, unless they were sick or elderly.

"Um, excuse me, sir," she spoke to a man sitting at a desk. "I'm looking for Shinji Ikari."

He looked up at her and responded, "Are you a friend or relative?"

"No, I'm here on orders from his father."

He got up and led her towards an elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor.

"I've noticed that there are no children around."

"That's because most of them are in a video game-induced coma."

"What are you mean?"

"About a week ago, this new role-playing game was released, and something happened. The game was called _Survival Times_ , a type of fantasy-themed adventure game that incorporates other themes, such as cowboys and Indians, knights and dragons, robots, ghosts and some Zen architecture. Somehow, everyone that was playing the game were put into a coma tied to the game, mainly because of this new system they call Full-Force Dive Solutions. It's a headset that's supposed to allow wearers to actually be inside the game without ever leaving your room."

They got off the elevator and the man led her to the room assigned to the boy.

"You mean to say that the boy and many others are completely incapacitated because of this _Survival Times_ game?" She asked him, and entered the room, seeing a terrible sight.

"In a twisted way," the guy said, looking at the fourteen-year-old boy that lay immobile on the hospital bed with a dented, gray helmet covering his head that was plugged into a wall outlet, "they're still in the game…and the doctors can't do a thing to get them out on the outside."

Misato looked at Shinji's face that wasn't covered by the helmet, seeing that he looked as though he were sleeping, and noticed the name of the helmet read, _"Full-Force Diver"_.

"Are they all wearing these helmets?" She asked him.

"They're a crucial part of playing virtual reality games online," he explained. "They hook right up to the nervous system, and you're in the game."

"Why not just take the helmet off?"

"Some people actually tried that…with bad results as a consequence. Over two-hundred people died within minutes of their helmets being removed while still active and online in the game. You take his off…and he'll probably have less than a few minutes before convulsing and going respiratory failure among nervous system failure."

Misato decided to keep away from the helmet. She then noticed a bruise on his right wrist.

"Is this a bruise on his arm?" She asked.

-x-

"…To be simple," went Ristuko, over the phone at the NERV branch in Germany to Gendo, two days later when she arrived, "The Second Child and others like her are trapped in the online game that incapacitated them at some point when whatever happened to trap them in the game. All attempts to remove them from the game externally will result in death. So long as these helmets they're wearing have a charged-up battery and remain functional, they'll remain comatose, but if they're separated from the Internet or run out of power, their bodies will cease all bodily functions."

"Very well. Return ASAP." Gendo ordered her as soon as he was informed.

On his office desk was a copy of the _Survival Times_ game the Second and Third Child were trapped in, and he deduced that the game was like any other game meant to incite a challenge. The only way to get out of the game was to win it.

To be continued…

A/N: Here's the first chapter of the story. Until next time.


	2. Rules

Creation began on 06-23-16

Creation ended on 10-02-16

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Eva Art Online: Rules

Shinji had never seen so many people terrified to discover their main menu windows in this virtual realm to lack a crucial element that was supposed to be present. Not a single player's window had the option for logging out of _Survival Times_ available. As they all pondered and questioned one another on how they were going to get out, Shinji tried to remain calm. He just suspected that it was probably a small glitch that would resolve itself soon.

"Who makes a game without the _Log Out_ option?!" He heard a woman yell out.

"I was one of the beta testers, and this wasn't like this at all!" A man shouted.

"May I have everyone's attention, please?" A woman's voice called out through what sounded like a series of megaphones, and Shinji looked up and saw an ethereal woman dressed in flowing, white robes. "Thank you. Now, in case some of you didn't get the memo, the rules of the game have changed drastically to ensure total performance from each and every last one of you. To give you an incentive to pay attention, your ability to log out of the game has been removed from your menus."

Some of the people present demanded to know, but Shinji remained silent.

"I'm sure some of you are familiar with the concept of a new world order, right?" The woman questioned. "This is survival of the most desperate to escape the game. The only way to get back to the external realm…is to win the game, and those of you that have played the game in its initial stages know how to do that. The beta testers shall serve as your information holders, explaining what they know and so on."

Of course, Shinji himself had been a beta tester, as well, but not by choice. It was only because his aunt wanted him out of the house for longer hours than there were in a day. Even if he had developed some measure of experience playing _Survival Times_ , it was hardly a reason to play the game. Mostly, it was just to do one of the tag lines of the game, _"Escape your old realm, step into another realm."_

"For those of you that still don't understand how to win the game, here are the basics of the layout," the woman explained further. "The world of the game is broken into twelve realms that circle a thirteenth realm. Each realm represents a different gathering of individuals based on their chosen portrayals. You're either a gunslinger, a pirate, a zombie, a fairy or some other type of creature designed to fit in the game. Each realm has one-hundred layers or levels, each filled with enemies or obstacles for you to face in order to increase your skill set and accessibility to greater items to improve your survival rates. Each realm can be visited by any number of you, either solo or as parties, and will record your achievements for the duration of your time there. If your achievements include defeating a monster boss or a guardian of a treasure trove, the rewards can include additional weapons, healing remedies, or, like the video games of old, extra lives to prevent you from losing the game."

"What should happen if you lose the game?" A man from the gathering asked.

"The same thing if you were to experience it in real life," she answered cryptically. "Except when you log out, you log out of more than the game. No save or reset. You just…die."

Shinji heard people gasping and whimpering at this discovery. If they died in the game, they would die in the real world.

"Why would you do this?!" Another woman demanded.

"Because I can," the ethereal woman claimed. "If you want out, either beat the game or end your own life. Either way works for me. I shall be off now to let each of you process this information. A bonus tidbit, though. If you ever want to change the realm you visit to one of the other realms, your level accessibility will be transferred to the new realm, allowing you to continue on the level of the new realm where you stopped at in the previous realm. To all of you, I hope you do your very best to survive the game in any way that you can. Adios!"

Then, just like that, she was gone. Disappeared without a trace, and leaving everyone either fuming, scared beyond their darkest nightmares, or just wanting to do what Shinji wanted to do at the moment, which was to survive.

 _If you die in the game,_ he thought, repeating the information so that he couldn't forget it, _you die for real. If you die in the game…you die for real._

He summoned his holographic menu again and selected his folder that read, _"Accessories"_ , selecting a shawl to cover himself with because his current attire lacked a weather-hardened garment. Ever since he started to play _Survival Times_ , before he even knew about the expanse of character options for any player to choose from in order to customize their avatars, he chose the designation of the samurai because he wanted to be a ronin, a samurai without a master…because he hated the way others treated him because of who he was related to. While others chose to be cowboys or archers or futuristic soldiers, he just wanted to be as far removed from the rest of society as possible.

"What are we going to do?" A girl questioned.

"What can we do?" Another girl expressed.

"Try to survive," went a man to them, just as Shinji walked away. "It's all we can do."

-x-

"These rules to the game aren't all that difficult to understand once you've read them," Hyuga expressed, reading up on the _Survival Times_ game in Central Dogma, towards Ibuki and Shigeru. "Each realm that makes up the entirety the game world is one-hundred levels long, and if a player wishes to change the realm they're currently in to a new one, they can and begin again on the same level they stopped at in the previous realm."

"And the Second and Third Child were playing this game when they got stuck in it along with thousands of others?" Ibuki questioned.

"That's right," answered Shigeru. "Both pilots are being transferred here, though."

"But if they're stuck in a game, how can they be expected to pilot?"

"As long as they're incapacitated, they can't pilot at all. But they're unprotected in the hospitals they're currently in. If they're transferred here, they're at least kept safe from harm."

As they were still talking about the situation, Gendo was in one of the damaged testing chambers where the still-incapacitated Unit-00 resided, its left fist wedged into the side of the wall, bathed in orange light, surrounded by a small pool of a liquid substance.

"How was Rei today?" Ritsuko, who found him there, asked him. "You did see her at the hospital today, didn't you?"

"She'll be able to work again in two months," he revealed. "We'll need additional pilots and Evas to resolve the matter with the Angels."

"To think that we could get hindered…by an online video game."

"If they can't be set freed from the game, then those inside the game must try to beat it themselves."

"Based upon what the MAGI confirmed, external interference is not without fatal consequences."

To be continued…

A/N: So now we know some of the rules of the game. But how will things press on?


	3. One Day, One Feat, One Goal

Creation began on 10-02-16

Creation ended on 05-01-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Eva Art Online: One Day, One Feat, One Goal

One of the only things that kept any of the people sane while being stuck inside a video game with multiple genres and one-hundred levels to play in order to win it was the fact that each individual had a digital clock and calendar in their menu and HUDs to keep them up to date with how long they've been in the game since they got stuck in it. This and whatever else they had installed in their avatars before becoming trapped in the game. Installed music, videos, increased optimization of character performance and individualization, all things to pass time in the game.

It had been two months since they became trapped, and in those two months, there had been both progress and setbacks. When word spread of at least eighty-seven people dying after reaching the thirty-second level of one realm, other players that were revealed to be just elementary school kids became convinced that they would never escape the game and just stayed on the first level of their realms where it was believed to be safest. Other players just continued to press on in the hopes of reaching the final level and winning it. This was also true of Shinji, who had just made it to the thirty-second level of the realm of the medieval and feudal cultures, which were associated with the samurai lifestyle he had become accustomed to.

As a ronin, Shinji traveled alone, rarely interacting with others, except when he needed to restock on supplies at merchant locations on levels with designated safe zones where one could go without the fear of being harmed. And as a ronin, he didn't have to worry about anyone but himself. With a higher level and greater skill set, achieved mostly by continuously fighting and defeating creatures he had already beaten before on the lower levels, Shinji was able to get by in the realm he stuck to quite well. And he took it one day at a time.

"Even if I save my progress here, it wouldn't change anything later on," he told himself, walking into nearby cave to crash and burn for the next few hours until he was mentally rested up again.

While the game avatars weren't affected by fatigue like the human body was in real life, the players were subject to mental fatigue; even when the body is unspent from activity, the mind can grow weary of any further action at any time of the day. And because the players were now trapped inside the game, they had to be cautious of suffering mental fatigue more often, lest they risk a psychotic breakdown from over-exertion.

Setting up the fire for light and his blanket, even when he didn't really need the latter, Shinji laid down and tried to forget about the fact that he was in the game and somewhere else right now. It didn't always have the intended effect on him, but when he did lay down, he would lose consciousness for a little while and manage to undo some of his mental fatigue. Maybe it was the closest thing to actual sleep in the game, but it got some results.

"One day at a time, Shinji," he told himself in the form of a mantra. "One day at a time."

Basically, this served to remind him that he couldn't just escape the game as quickly as he dared to. If he was to get out, he had to have patience above all else necessary to survive. In his mind, one needed patience, stability, adaptability, endurance…and was knowledgeable enough to pass advice to others in the game if they needed it. This was how he got his sage-like knowings…and why he was rarely at his aunt and uncle's when they didn't want to see him.

-x-

"…Okay, you two," went Ritsuko to the two auxiliary pilots that the Marduk Institute selected to substitute the incapacitated Second and Third Children, completing their synchronization evaluation. "We're done for today. Hit the showers."

"Yes, ma'am," responded the pig-tailed class representative Hikari Horaki to her.

"Yes, ma'am," added the school jock Toji Suzuhara.

In the following weeks, both teens were approached by NERV and explained the situation and why they were needed against the Angels. It was fortunate that they were among the few pilot candidates that hadn't played the _Survival Times_ game; when NERV got word that a handful of Tokyo-3's youth population had been enticed by the game, they wound up getting hospitalized, too.

Hikari and Toji were only fortunate to avoid the same fate a few of their classmates had suffered because neither demonstrated an interest in video games, either too invested in school or sports to do so, respectively. But still, it didn't keep either from visiting the hospital to see their otaku classmate, Kensuke Aida, who fell victim to the harsh outcome of the game's power.

Of course, Hikari visited him under the belief that, as class representative, she had a responsibility to see him daily.

Toji, on the other hand, just hated seeing his friend in such a state, but couldn't pretend that nothing bad had happened when his own sister came close to getting stuck in the game at a friend's house, saved only because of installation delays.

"…So, I hear the only way to get out of the game is to win it," said Hikari to Toji as they were walking down the hospital hallway to where Kensuke resided. "Do you think Aida can win it?"

"He didn't play _Survival Times_ to win it, Class Rep.," he explained to her. "He just played it for fun. Whether or not he's able to beat the game is debatable."

-x-

Shinji had just defeated another bear yōkai to raise his level up to fifty-seven and obtained a treasure trove that the demonic bear was guarding against theft. He opened the trove and found three items of special necessity. A sack of healing orbs, a naginata, and most importantly, an additional life to the five he gained over the two months.

 _And to think, I went back to a level I had already completed,_ he thought, deciding to save his progress afterward. _If I go any further, I'll probably have to join a group if I aim to get farther up to the one-hundredth level._

Click! He heard a sound and turned around, seeing a freckled boy around his age, raising an assault rifle at him.

The boy was dressed in a sailor uniform with a camouflage theme to it, equipped with a paratrooper's helmet and goggles.

"Healing remedies and weapons, fool," he ordered Shinji.

"Is this really how you want to play the game?" Shinji asked.

"Do you want me to kill you?!" The boy yelled him, pressing his rifle at his chest.

"Do you really want to kill others in order to survive?"

"What choice do I have?! We're all stuck in this game and we have to do what we can to survive!"

SLASH! Shinji brandished his katana and knocked the rifle out of the boy's possession, forcing him against a cave wall, the blade edge against his neck.

"Yeah, we do what we can to survive," Shinji told him. "That's the point of the game, but it doesn't have to make us all savages, warlords, criminals, even if it's part of the game to explore one's fantasies in a world without boundaries."

The boy just looked at him with a sense of hopelessness in his eyes, waiting for him to put him out of his misery.

But Shinji pulled his sword away from his neck and re-sheathed it on his back.

"If you want to survive, I suggest you listen to me," he told the soldier. "I'm a ronin, a samurai without a master, but I have a code of honor like any other samurai. You live by the code…and you die by the code. This applies to the same code of living and dying by the sword. If you are prepared to end someone's life, be prepared to have your life ended by someone else. The victory over the one-hundredth level of whichever realm you visit rewards you with the promise of freedom for everyone, but there's doubt that any one person can win on their own. Anything there will be powerful. Too powerful to face alone. Say that, instead of attacking others for their supplies, we set aside whatever feuds we have…and work together to get closer to the final level of wherever we have to go in the game? We're both soldiers, warriors. What do you say to that?"

The boy nodded in agreement with him, and Shinji picked up his rifle and threw it at him.

"You're from the Military Realm, aren't you?" He asked him. "Why'd you leave it to come to the Feudal Myths Realm?"

"I couldn't get past the thirtieth level there," the boy revealed. "The wars there had gotten more intense. All the members of my unit were killed around me. I got scared of what might've happened to me had I stayed and continue."

Shinji couldn't exactly sympathize with what happened to him, but he could understand why any players would fear dying; nobody wanted to enter the next world as a result of dying in a game. Not even he himself wanted to die…even when he had nothing to go back to in the real world but an inescapable of nightmare of abuse and neglect.

"For now, we'll stick to this realm," he told him, "and view other alternate realms as time passes."

Nodding in agreement, the military boy followed the ronin as he led him out further down the forest.

"Who are you?" Shinji asked him, never getting his name.

"My avatar name is AK-4700…but I don't make it out of this game, I might as well say my real name. It's Kensuke Aida."

"Kensuke Aida. I'm Shinji Ikari. My avatar name is Ronin-2004, like the masterless samurai that used to wander around the nation long ago."

"Ikari? As in…that little boy that was abandoned after the supposed death of his mother?"

"If I had a concrete memory of my childhood, I'd be able to answer that question. But, yes, I was abandoned by my father. Not that it really matters. Even if I make it out of this game, there's nobody waiting for me."

"If working together helps me to get out of here, you'll have someone waiting for you to return to the real world to thank you."

-x-

"…This program we tried installing into the game to trace and monitor the two children hasn't brought us the expected results," said Maya to Ritsuko; they were using the MAGI to monitor the progress of the people trapped in _Survival Times_ , but using the supercomputer to observe the activity of over one-hundred-thousand people in a virtual environment was probably not in the original specs or one of its original functions.

"Still, the sooner we find them in the game, the better it'll be to keep track of them," Ritsuko expressed.

The MAGI was tracking the people through their email accounts, photo identifications, medical records, anything and everything in order to track them.

"I heard Captain Katsuragi requested a background check into the Third Child's guardians. Is this true?" Maya asked.

"Yeah, she suspected the boy was being abused when she found him at the hospital," she answered. "It turns out that when he was brought in, he had a series of bruises and fractures that didn't come from playing the game. What's more was that the boy's aunt was caught at the hospital the day before Captain Katsuragi arrived, trying to turn off the life-support systems keeping the boy's body alive."

"Wouldn't that be considered attempted murder?"

"The police don't know for sure. They let her go three days after he'd been moved. I guess there was no further point in keeping her in holding since he was no longer around to be harmed by anyone…until they know for certain that there's some hint of abuse."

-x-

"…It's so beautiful here," said Kensuke to Shinji as they stopped to rest at a scenic river in the forest. "So tranquil and quiet."

"That's the thing about this realm," Shinji told him. "It's often always quiet. It's only in places like castle dungeons and caves where the noises are heard, where the myths and legends come to life and you fight for the right to advance further."

That's when Kensuke began to notice that Shinji sounded like he had versed himself in old sayings, and saw him reading a digital book in his hands.

"What is that you're reading?" He asked him.

"It's _Hagakure_ ," he answered, sitting against a tree. "It's been my salvation within the game…and my retribution outside it."

"The way of the samurai."

"Basically."

"What is the way?"

"There are many ways to the samurai. It all depends upon the way you choose."

"And which way did you choose?"

"The path of the ronin. To have no master of which to serve is to be free from servitude, to have no retainer of which to devote one's life to."

Creak! Both boys heard some twigs breaking under heavy feet, and Kensuke saw a woman of maybe twenty years of age dressed in an outfit reminiscent of those demon exterminator outfits from the _Inu-Yasha_ franchise, only all black with a long, purple scarf or sash wrapped around her neck, and her hair was tied in a long ponytail.

The soldier raised his rifle up, but Shinji raised his left hand up to stop him from shooting.

"First rule of the martial arts," he uttered to him. "Never fight unless someone else starts."

Getting up, Shinji stood in front of the woman and bowed his head to her.

To Kensuke's surprise, the woman bowed back.

"Ghost Dog of _Survival Times_ ," she uttered, performing one of those hand gestures people did in the old martial arts films. "Merciful ronin."

"Elegant exterminator," Shinji responded, performing the same gesture. "Always see everything to know everything, virtual sister."

"There is a phantom castle up in the mountain terrain controlled by a band of demon ninja. Only a party may face them to move on to the next level. The rewards for victory are said to be immense. A small concern in freeing the neighboring the village from the grip of the demon ninja. Are you enticed?"

"I am enticed. Only through teamwork will many prevail."

Now Kensuke was confused. Confused at whether or not Shinji knew this woman.

-x-

The Warrior Goddess Realm, one of the more brutal realms to exist in _Survival Times_ , was populated by at least eight-hundred players of the opposite sex…with only fifty-seven members of the male sex just hanging there because they felt it was safest to be. There, it was ruled by several factions of young women that followed in the footsteps of goddesses who believed in the power of conflict. One such faction was called the Scarlet Sirens, and their leader was a thirteen-year-old redhead with a serious attitude.

This was Asuka Langley Soryu, who took control of the faction from a fellow Scarlet Siren due to her merciful nature. In her mind, to show mercy was to show weakness, and she refused to be merciful, even when the situation called for mercy.

"Mistress Soryu," one of her cohorts uttered as she sharpened her sword against a stone wheel. "You asked one of us to seek out strong adversaries from other realms, and she came back with a tidbit of information that you might want to know about."

"Well, what is it?" Asuka asked.

"A survivor from the Military Realm has joined up with a young man from the Feudal Myths Realm. A so-called beta tester by the name of Shinji Ikari. There's a rumor that the two and a woman are about to reach the fifty-second level of that realm."

Asuka was now upset about this. The Scarlet Sirens had barely made it to the fifty-first level, and they didn't tolerate any male surpassing them, no matter which realm it was done in. And the fact that this boy was a beta tester meant that he had played this game many times before it was released to the public and, as a result, knew the cheats to the game's workings.

 _If we have his secrets, we may have the means to break free from this game and go home,_ she thought, missing the sight of her red Evangelion. "Gather the others. We're heading for this Feudal Myths Realm to find this boy. Whatever secrets he has, they'll be ours to know."

-x-

Shinji checked his map of the multiverse that displayed the thirteen realms that existed…and each one he either visited or considered visiting. The only time he had ever left the Feudal Myths Realm was when everyone was summoned to the thirteenth realm, the Primordial Realm, where all the players are supposedly to begin their journeys from. After that day, he hadn't gone to any other realm in the game since.

"It'll be raining soon," the woman told him, and he checked his weather app on his menu, confirming her words to be true.

"There's a small cave nearby," he uttered. "We can shack up there until it passes by."

"Did you two hear something just now?" Kensuke asked them; he wasn't trying to deceive them, for he really heard something.

Shinji looked down the river and sighed; there was a change in the wind. He smelled something of strawberries…and blood.

Lately, all the people stuck inside the game found their senses being affected, such as smelling things that they shouldn't have been able to smell, as smell was among the senses that weren't possible within the game.

 _Everyone wants to escape the game so badly, they'll go to extremes when you can't rush these things, no matter how hard you try or no matter what you attempt._ He thought, feeling the need to unsheathe his sword, but holding off from doing so yet. "We should run. Don't stop until you reach the cave."

They ran into the forest.

To be continued…

A/N: Here's the new chapter. It'll be awhile before the next chapter is up. I don't know when.


	4. IC, IR

Creation began on 05-01-17

Creation ended on 01-31-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Eva Art Online: Inescapable Conflict, Inevitable Relationships

A/N: Chapter four in the making.

The weather functions of the _Survival Times_ game were an interesting feature that happened as randomly as the weather patterns were in the real world. Just as quickly as the day was sunny, it could suddenly become cloudy or snowy, and cloudbursts were currently occurring in at least five different realms in several levels.

"I hate cloudbursts," said Kensuke to Shinji and the older girl as they were forced to take shelter on the large and thick branches of the trees due to the heavy downpour.

"Rain washes away all sin," the girl expressed. "Just wait it out."

Shinji didn't complain about the rain. If anything, he was more focused on who or what was below them on the ground. While he didn't exactly take charge of the current trio, he did have to keep them updated on the situation. His experience within the game had helped to keep him vigilant, to be mindful of all things.

"Shinji?" He turned to face Kensuke on the large branch on his right.

"The rain should mask our presence," he told him, pointing down to the ground, "and keep them from finding us."

Kensuke looked down…and saw a small band of women, clad in red cloaks that protected them from the downpour, walking the path they got off of to hide from them.

One of them pointed further down and they left.

"Who do you think they were?" He asked Shinji.

"Don't know," he answered. "I've never seen women in red around here. Probably from another of the realms of the game."

"I think I know who they were," the older girl said to them. "It's just a possibility, but they might be members of the Scarlet Sirens from the Warrior Goddess Realm."

"The realm where it's the women that reign supreme?" Kensuke questioned. "I went there once. Only once…and I didn't see any women in red."

"Yeah, they're a recent bunch, but I recognize the details of their armor anywhere."

"How can you be so sure?" Shinji asked her.

"Where you're one of the beta testers of the game, lonely ronin… I was one of the designers of the game," she revealed to them. "My task was creating the articles of clothing and armor for four of the realms. I got the game as soon as it was completed. One of the benefits of working on it, I'm afraid."

"You were a designer? And you got stuck in here with everyone else?" Kensuke asked her. "Who, exactly, are you?"

"My avatar name…is Shiori-1999," she told them, "but my real name…is Mari Makinami. Part of my reasons for playing an online game of this sort where your mind can travel beyond the body…is that I can escape from the limitations of my own body."

"What do you mean by that?" Shinji asked her.

"Second Impact…and the resulting aftermath…took the use of my legs. Out there, in the real world, I haven't been able to walk for fifteen years. But here, in the game…even if it's only an illusion, I'm able to stand, to walk. Entertaining young minds wasn't the only route of the game. It had applications for the physically disabled, people that can't use their arms or legs."

"That's rough, ma'am," said Kensuke to Mari, sympathetic to her real world problems. "I'd probably play the game for hours, too, if it meant being able to do the things I enjoy unaided."

"If we win the game," went Shinji to them, "we could go back to playing for hours instead of indefinitely…and without the fear of getting killed for real. Until then, take joy in what is possessed."

-x-

"Looks like we finally hit pay dirt," said Ritsuko to Gendo, informing him of the results of the MAGI's attempts to locate the Second and Third Children within the game. "We've found the Second and Third Children within the game. They're both inhabiting a realm called the Feudal Myths Realm, based off of the ancient mythology of Japanese culture."

"And how are they progressing?" He asked her.

"At present, both are on the fifty-second level of that realm…but have yet to clear it."

"Are they…working together?"

"I'm afraid both children are on opposite sides. The Second Child is with a group of women while the Third Child is with only two people, another boy and a woman."

-x-

The rain soon ceased and the sun came out, but the danger was still present.

"We can't stay up here forever," said Kensuke to Shinji and Mari, wanting to get out of the trees.

Shinji looked down at the ground and sighed.

"Be careful on the way down," he told them, and then jumped off the branch.

Mari followed suit, but Kensuke repelled down with a rope, since his avatar lacked the evasive skills their avatars possessed.

"No offense, but you need a talisman from this realm if you ever want to move as we do," Mari told him. "Fortunately, the cave we need to get to will have such items."

"Such is the way of realms to have talismans to permit one's avatar to perform feats not natural to them," he responded. "One of the only exceptions to that rule is the usage of high-speed vehicles in the Drift Realm."

"You got that right," added Shinji.

-x-

Asuka and her group had reached a cave system, but found no signs of individuals having come by before they did.

"One of you stand guard out here in case someone shows up," she ordered one of the Scarlet Sirens. "If any do, clean them out."

While one stayed behind, the rest of the group entered the cave to gather items and exert their dominance over any that stood in their way.

 _Where are you?_ Asuka wondered.

-x-

"You!" Shinji called out to a woman in red. "Are you a Scarlet Siren?"

"What's it to you?" The woman responded, brandishing her spear at him and his companions. "Surrender your items or face your doom!"

"What if we have no items?" Mari asked her.

"Then turn around and walk away."

"And what if we can't do that, either?" Kensuke asked her. "What if we want to enter that cave and move on to the next level of this realm?"

"Then you're going to die."

The three companions looked at one another before turning back to face the woman in red.

"Ma'am, we can't turn back…and we're not going to hand you over our items," Shinji told her, "but we are going to get inside that cave. Please, step aside."

"I'm a Scarlet Siren, boy! I don't have to listen to any man!"

"Then I suggest you listen to me!" Mari intervened. "I'm not a man, but I'm with them! Stand aside!"

"Make me."

Shinji nodded in the positive and Mari brandished a naginata with a serrated blade.

"I shall fight you for the right to enter the cave," she told the Scarlet Siren. "Do you accept…or are you a coward?"

"I'm no coward! I accept!" The Scarlet Siren responded and charged with her spear aimed at Mari's chest. "Die, traitor to women!"

Slash! Mari swung her polearm sideways at the woman's waist…and dropped her instantly.

"Urgh!" The Scarlet Siren groaned, discovering that her HP was down to almost zero, but still high enough to know that she wasn't dead. "How?"

"Vitality Disable Strike," she explained, "based on the art of chakra torture. I struck you in your Fire Chakra, located in the stomach, the source of your willpower…and burdened by your shame."

Shinji and Kensuke walked around the fallen woman and joined Mari as she entered the cave; she wouldn't die, but she was going to be down for a while, a time period they could take advantage of.

"Say, is it possible to learn such a move for my avatar?" Kensuke asked Mari.

"Not without a polearm," she explained to him, "and not without talismans from this realm."

Entering the dark place, Shinji checked his inventory and took out a torch, illuminating the darkness.

"Everyone, watch your step," he told them.

"I'd rather have this handy," went Kensuke to them as he pulled out his assault rifle, "in case of any close encounters."

"Yeah, you might as well, since your enemies won't play fair," Mari accepted.

"Up ahead," Shinji revealed, pointing towards the large number of Scarlet Sirens further down the tunnel. "There they are."

The trio hid behind a corner and were out of sight.

"I counted at least fifteen of them," whispered Mari.

"Fifteen Scarlet Sirens," said Kensuke, "so, that's five apiece for each of us."

"That's assuming there aren't others here," stated Shinji. "Always be cautious. Wait here."

He then ran out and hid behind a large rock formation on the other side of the tunnel, poking his head out to get a view of the all-female group further down. He couldn't be sure unless he got closer, but he suspected they had more than fifteen members present; he excluded the one they dealt with outside.

-x-

"They're currently inside a tunnel network," Ritsuko informed Misato as the MAGI displayed a rather-old variation of the layout the Second and Third Children were present within the game. _Using the outdated Nintendo graphics is an embarrassment to the functionality of the MAGI._

On the holographic screens, they saw a minute version of the Third Child's game avatar run across the tunnel and hide behind a rock, probably to get a further evaluation of the situation his group was in. Then, on the left side of the tunnel they had entered from, the three were, apparently, made known to the larger group of twenty-three female players belonging to the Second Child by one of their own. Seconds afterward, the trio was surrounded by the larger group.

"I don't like this," expressed Misato; she knew Asuka exhibited a violent streak when it came to using the Eva, but if being stuck in the game took it up a notch and it progressed to being willing to actually murder for real, NERV would be short another, and that was assuming they would even get out of the game alive.

-x-

They had lost the element of surprise because of the weakened guard. And now, seeing exactly how many Scarlet Sirens there were, the trio were left with very options at their disposal.

"You, boy," Shinji looked at the young girl that probably led the Scarlet Sirens, seeing she was a beautiful redhead herself. "Are you the one called Shinji Ikari?"

"And if I answered that I was?" He countered.

"We want your secrets. We want the cheats to the game."

"I'm afraid any cheats possessed by any beta testers will be insufficient for any group that treats others like expendable tools."

The girl then brandished her rapier at his neck.

"Maybe I wasn't clear," she uttered. "You will surrender your secrets, boy. Don't think I won't kill you if you defy the Scarlet Sirens."

But Shinji refused to be intimidated by this girl.

"Hey, if we work together, we can escape the game," Mari suggested to her. "That's why we're here."

"Yeah," added Kensuke. "There's no way to get out by taking advantage of the other players."

"So says a boy," said a random Scarlet Siren to him. "You can't be trusted with secrets."

"Men don't deserve to possess such knowledge," added another member.

After hearing this (and seeing the remaining women brandish their blades), Mari got the feeling that the Scarlet Sirens weren't called the name they had for the proper reasons.

"You girls aren't like the Amazons of old tales," she uttered her assumption towards. "I think you're just a bunch of misandrists."

The redhead turned to face her and hurled her rapier at her chest.

Thunk! The blade was deflected…by Shinji, who grabbed the end of it with his left hand before it could make contact with Mari.

"That…was cold," he grunted, feeling like his hand had been run through a meat grinder. "Do you really want to kill us?"

"If I have to, I will," she answered.

"And I'll protect my friends in any way I can."

FLASH-BANG! Several small explosions came from around Shinji, Mari and Kensuke, creating a smokescreen that surrounded them, obscuring them from the Scarlet Sirens.

When the smoke cleared, three were gone, leaving only the redhead's rapier on the ground.

"Shiest!" She frowned as she picked up her sword. "I will not be outdone by a boy!"

-x-

"…The art of misdirection?" Kensuke asked Shinji as they ran down the tunnel.

"Yeah," he answered him as he wrapped a small bandage around his hand to remedy his injury. "I dropped small pouches that were set to explode when I needed them to."

"I owe you, Shinji," Mari told him. "It seems like the redhead is the one in charge and is very misandrist towards men."

"Either that or she just hates everyone, including herself. All you said was your assumption…and she tried to execute you. I have some doubts that we'll be able to work together with the Scarlet Sirens if she's the head honcho."

"If she's the head honcho, I must share my assumption that it's unlikely we'll be able to get along with them, even if on a rare basis," Kensuke expressed his opinion.

"Let's not give up on the Scarlet Sirens just yet. Focus on the ancient proverb of three enemies. If we're one side and they're another side, the chances of a third side raises a chance of two sides working together against the third side."

"The enemy of my enemy," Mari stated. "It's a double-edged sword, however, since it can go both ways. It's in fate's hands on who will side with who. Hopefully, we have covered enough ground between us and them. Feels like I just ran a mile."

"Three miles, actually," said Kensuke. "I have a feature in my avatar that records the miles achieved after escaping from someone."

"Wow. That's impressive."

Stomp! Something loud came and shook the tunnel.

"We must under the phantom castle by now," Mari realized. "Either that or we're at least nearing it."

Stomp! Something big was approaching their location.

"How strong are the demon ninja?" Kensuke questioned.

"Their strength lies within their versatility and horde of beasts," Mari explained. "Mostly demonic golems and oxen."

"But level-wise?"

"Anywhere between thirty-forty-two."

"The ninja will always be half as strong or as weak as the total sum of the opposing party's combined levels," Shinji added. "If our combined level was thirty, depending on our luck, they'd be either level fifteen or sixty."

"Right now, you're the strongest, Shinji," Mari stated. "You're level fifty-seven. I'm level fifty-four and Kensuke's level fifty-two. That means our party's level is one-hundred-sixty-three. They can't reduce themselves to a weaker lever, meaning they'll be twice as strong as we are."

"Not if one of us raises or lowers the level of a teammate."

"We can do that?"

"Mari and I can, since our avatars are associated to this realm. You'll still require a talisman to do what we do. Here's an Herb of Teamwork, Mari."

Shinji gave her a small plant that looked like a fern with red edges. It disappeared when she pressed it against herself, and her body briefly glowed purple. Soon afterward, her level raised up from fifty-four to fifty-five.

"Hopefully, we'll be dealing with a weak bunch," she told them, brandishing her polearm. "Here goes."

Stomp! The creature was close by now.

"Show yourself!" Shinji shouted.

From around the corner in front of them, the beast emerged. It was a massive, scarred and demonic jaguar with a reddish hue to its fur and its fangs were all serrated.

"Whoa!" Kensuke gasped, bringing up his rifle.

Behind the jaguar were a band of dark humanoids with red eyes, dressed like ninjas.

"I don't think it's going to be a good time right now," Mari stated; the ninja wouldn't fight them until after they had defeated their beasts, only then would they know their level.

"To advance forward, give it your all!" Shinji declared, pulling back his sword. "Never relent!"

-x-

As she recovered in the trauma ward after three consecutive surgeries, Rei Ayanami awoke from her medically-induced coma and looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm alive?" She spoke, confused about how she was still among the living.

To be continued…

A/N: This was rushed to completion.


End file.
